PUPILS from a school in Harrow got a look at a former Stanmore air force base as efforts to turn it into a museum get underway.

When work finishes on historic Bentley Priory schools all over the borough will be taken on trips around the rooms where the RAF co-ordinated the Battle of Britain in the face of an onslaught by German planes.

But yesterday it was Harrow High School, in Gayton Road, that got a sneak peak at the inside of the Grade II* listed mansion house while the renovation project is carried out.

Zayn Yaqoob, 13, was among year eights given a guided tour of the building and told about its broad history, as the home of Fighter Command in World War Two and of Queen Adelaide in the 19th Century.

He said: “I feel like I want to be some sort of pilot and fight. It's cool. I feel proud. I've always enjoyed everything about Britain's history and the war.”

Charles Titmus, 13, said: “I've learned that a Queen lived here at one stage. They used it for planning where they would move the Spitfires and Hurricanes.

“I thought it was going to be just another boring mansion, but it isn't.”